The Diamond in the Window
Jane Langton, illustrated by Erik Blegvad
ISBN: none
Pubdata: Harper and Row, NY, 1962
Read May 4, 2016
This is the starting point of a series of 8 children's novels written between 1962 and 2008 that focus on the Hall family children, starting in this book with Eleanor and Edward. They live with their Aunt Lily and Uncle Fred (Fred and Lily are brother and sister, not married). Their parents are dead (of course) and one day while exploring the old rickety mansion, they discover a hidden attic room and a mysterious sad case involving even more of Lily and Fred's siblings. It seems that long ago, when Lily was a young woman, her youngest two siblings (a boy and girl named Edward and Eleanor: crucially and luckily nicknamed Ned and Nora) and her beau, a maharaja from India (yes really) all simply up and vanished one night, and no one could ever find them. Now the house is on the hook for back taxes, and the current set of siblings are off and running to solve the mystery and save the house.
It's cute, but it's dated, and the endless references to Lousia (Alcott) and Henry (Thoreau) and Walt (Whitman) are meant to be enriching, but end up as somewhat tiresome: although a few of the dream sequences involving the Alcott sisters as children, and showing Walden in his cabin are sweet and deftly done. I can see how the book sticks in the mind (I discovered it when a patron was searching for it, half-remembered from their own childhood) because the dreams are creepy and unsettling and visually evocative, and the scenario is just wild enough to not quite be preposterous. The ending is quick and utterly mundane, and everyone is happily settled down in the best possible fashion. I'm glad I read it and made ms Langton's accquaintance, but I don't think I'll continue with the series - it's not quite my style, even though sections were very enjoyable.
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